Tragedy of the Commons

Recently the MS faculty have been bandying about the phrase "the tragedy of the commons" and how middle school students don't treat our public spaces very well. The term has a nice ring to it and since it was initially coined has become dilute. When it's used today, it does not reflect the gravity intended by the author, Garrett Hardin, in the article he wrote for Science in 1968. It's not about dishes in the sink. It's about humanity leading itself to ruin,with some suggestions for recourse. It's a powerful article, read and along with "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, forced me and some of my friends into vegetarianism for a long while. But that's another post.

Here is a link to the article, I hope you enjoy.

The Tragedy of the Commons

by Garrett Hardin, 1968

Published in Science, December 13, 1968